Kids start the negative self-talk at a very early age–with or without parental assistance. They pick it up at school, at the playground, from other relatives, etc. Sometimes, it simply comes from comparing themselves to their peers and noticing that they are either not able to do something as well as somebody else, they do it more slowly, or they do it differently. As adults we know that different is not necessarily bad (at least I hope that we all know that); but, for a kid, that message is not always clear.
